Category Archives: cooking styles

Not everyone feels like handling an entire 20 lb. bird for Thanksgiving – if you’re just cooking for yourself or a few other special someones, that’s a lot of leftovers! Or maybe it’s mid August and you want all the deliciousness of Thanksgiving without the 5 day pumpkin spice latte infused extravaganza. Whatever the case, this holiday spin on a rustic dish is sure to please and wow even the pickiest of turkey gobblers. The classic technique is a bit tricky, but the reward is SO worth it!

In my house, pork chops are a twice weekly affair – we just can’t get enough of them! I’m always looking for new ways to prepare them, and a few months ago I had a hankering for Chinese food and some pork chops in the freezer. And so, this recipe was born… my second favorite pork chop preparation ever (behind my mom’s pork chops and mushroom gravy, of course, but that’s for another day)!

A chill is in the air… it’s almost down to the 50s here in the sunshine state! What better way to celebrate “cold” weather with a hearty, healthy meal of delicious cold water fish? Wild salmon has a higher fat content which makes it deliciously moist and chock full of omega-3’s. You get the best benefits and most intense flavor from leaving the skin on, and when baked on a cedar plank, this swimmer really soars to new heights. I served this with lemon-maple green beans and wild rice – the nutty/sweet flavors really complimented the glaze well, and kicked the health factor up a notch.

While Thanksgiving has come and gone, and my birth month has finally arrived, this recipe was just too good to deny front page status. While perusing Bon Appétit for some Thanksgiving menu ideas, my mom and I came across this technically wonderful cooking method. We did a test run on a couple of chickens, and when those turned out amazingly, we decided to take a risk and make our Thanksgiving turkey the same way. My oh my, did it pay off. Not only is the skin to die for (my favorite part!) but the meat was moist and oh-so-flavorful. If that wasn’t enough, the cooking time was about half of what it normally would have been. This is the first year that every scrap of leftover 15 lb. turkey was eaten – by two people and a dog. Try this out with your next big bird, or with a delicious chicken. You can’t go wrong.

I am a slave to spice. I live on Frank’s. Usually dinner is Frank’s with a side of whatever else we’re having. I literally put that **** on EVERYTHING. I also absolutely love Mexican food and Southwestern flavors – hence my obsession with Bobby Flay. And who doesn’t love sangria?

One of the simplest Mexican dishes to master is the fajita, and for drinks, there’s the Spanish sangria. That’s partly because there’s no real formula for either, save a few basic rules, and because anything wrapped in a warm tortilla or with wine and some hot sauce is – in my opinion – worth dying for.

It’s no secret by now that I love Indian food. While Murg Makhani/Butter Chicken (recipe here) is my favorite Indian meal, sometimes I feel like dressing something up in a pretty little package. Whenever I want to add a little pizazz to a meal I’d usually make with chicken, I immediately think of Cornish Game Hen. It’s perfectly proportioned, flavorful, and damn cute on a plate. While watching one of my LOVES Bobby Flay on Food Network…

seriously!? THAT FACE

I was pleasantly surprised to see him deviating from his usual TexMex type cooking (which is BOMB by the way) and cooking up something with a little Indian flair. I immediately wrote the recipe down and decided to give it a try – and I’m glad I did! If you want a delicious, fancy shmancy Indian inspired meal, why don’t you try…

Here we are – the entree round of the Diced! competition! Thank you to all my followers, friends and family who helped get me through into the next round 🙂 Now, without further ado, let’s kick things off! (To view on the competition’s main page and to vote pretty plleassseeee!!! click here)

This time around, the ingredients we were required to include in our entree were:

Large portabello mushrooms
Quinoa
Balsamic Vinegar
Zucchini

I was in quite a pickle reading these ingredients (har har). How to make a dish that was cohesive AND delicious – especially when I had never seen let alone cooked with quinoa? Then it hit me – labor day was right around the corner. We HAVE to celebrate the last official day of summer, right? Well… in Florida every day is summer, but you get the picture. What better way to revel in the summer sun than with a grill, some burgers, and some beers? And so, this farewell to summertime recipe was born – and I’m so glad it was, because I think it has revolutionized how I will make burgers from now on.